Theoretical studies of the effect of strain on the performance of strained quantum well lasers based on GaAs and InP technology

A discussion is presented of the use of strain to improve the performance of quantum well laser structures. The deformation potential theory is used to study the effect of strain produced by the addition of excess indium on the conduction band and valence band properties. Full-band mixing effects are retained in the calculations. Using a numerical technique developed to study laser parameters in arbitrary quantum well structures, the authors study the effect of strain on the threshold current density and polarization dependence. Dramatic improvements are found due to the strain-induced band-structure changes. Optimization results are presented which show that single quantum well structures have the best performance